We're Doing Parenting Right, Right?
by Therealmsblack
Summary: It's Harry's first birthday and Lily and James are facing difficulties with the whole "parenting" concept.
1. A Marauder Through and Through

"Harry, wake up sweetie," Lily Potter said softly, rubbing her baby's arm as he stirred in his crib.

"Lils, let the kid rest! It's his birthday!" James Potter grumbled from his bed.

"I want Harry to enjoy his birthday as much as he can, because who knows how many he'll have," Lily's eyes started to well up with tears and James got out of bed and put his arms around his wife.

"It's okay Lils, he'll be okay! We'll all be okay! No one will think Wormy is our secret keeper, Padfoot was right," James comforted his wife. She got really emotional lately because of Voldemort's terrors.

"But, it's my baby's first birthday! Who knows if it will be his last?" Lily sobbed and James spun her around so he was looking into her large emerald eyes.

"Lils, stop thinking like that. I don't want you to ruin Harry's first birthday! Cheer up!" James said and Lily hit him softly on the arm.

"You're right, I'm just being stupid. I'm gonna go take a shower, can you wake Harry up?" Lily said and James nodded hesitantly. Lily wiped her face and walked off to the bathroom as James slowly walked towards Harry's crib.

"Oh, and change his nappy too," Lily called over her shoulder and James looked at Harry like he would lead to his certain death.

"Um, c'mon squirt, wake up," James said, softly shaking Harry.

"Harry, buddy, get up," James said, and Harry's eyelids fluttered briefly before they stopped moving again. Harry just rolled over and kind of waved at James, as if he were trying to say "5 more minutes dad…"

"Dude! It's your birthday! Get up!" James said exasperatedly and Harry's head snapped up to look at him, his emerald eyes wide open and curious. James laughed and picked Harry up.

"You were faking? A marauder through and through," James chuckled, making a mental note to tell Sirius about this later. Harry just gurgled and looked up at James expectantly. Suddenly, James pulled Harry away from him and held him at arm's length.

"Ugh! That's revolting! What does your mother feed you?" James cried once he got a whiff of what was inside Harry's nappy. Harry smirked and gurgled again and James stared at him.

"Definitely a Marauder," James muttered as he gently lay Harry on his changing table. He rolled his sleeves up and braced himself for the horror he was about to witness. James undid the fastenings on Harry's nappy as he heard the water start to run in the bathroom. He peeled the diaper away from Harry's bottom, and I'm guessing you don't want a description. James gagged and grabbed a wipe from the nappy bag, and started on wiping away the, er, poop. When Harry's bottom was clean, James picked him up so he could lay the new nappy down. Then, James realised that he couldn't do them both at the same time, so he grabbed his wand, while trying to hold his naked son as far away from him as possible.

"Wingardium Leviosa," James said under his breath and as he was magically laying the nappy down.

Quite suddenly, the quiet in the peaceful house was broken by a cry of horror.

"James?" Lily cried when she heard the yell. Like she learned in Auror training, constant vigilance. She shut the water off and wrapped a towel around her body tightly. She ran out of the shower, her head still covered in shampoo, and sped into the bedroom.

"James! Are you okay?" she scanned the room quickly and burst out laughing when she saw James holding Harry at an arm's length again, and James' head and shirt was soaked.

"HE PEED ON ME!" James yelled, and Harry giggled. Lily, still laughing, walked over and grabbed Harry from James, wiped him, and successfully put his new nappy on as James ran around the room screaming.

"THE BLOODY BABY PEED ON ME!" James screamed as he struggled to get him drenched shirt off his head.

"James! Language!" Lily scolded, covering Harry's miniature ears.

"Fresh air! Need fresh air!" James gasped as he ran across the room and flung open the window. He looked at the red and orange sky, and the rising sun calmed him a bit. He looked at the little village that he lived in, and the sound of the birds singing filled his ears. He saw some of their little neighbors playing jump-rope on the cobbled street. But it was too good to be true. Voldemort was out there somewhere, terrorising muggles and wizards, for a reason unknown to the Potter family. He was after Harry, and James knew that, but why? James took one last gulp of the fresh, sweet air and then pulled his head back into the room.

"I'm going to go take a shower," James announced.

"Yes, go do that," Lily giggled and James walked out of the room, still trying to remove his stained shirt from his body.

"I raised you so well," Lily said to Harry, and he gurgled, probably meaning that he understood and was proud of it.

**I originally intended this to be a one-shot, but it was too short, so I'll be posting more chapters soon. **


	2. Pafoo!

"Lils! Where's my Chudley Cannons shirt?" James called from the bathroom.

"It's for wash! Just wear your Puddlemere United one!" Lily replied from the bedroom, where she was dressing Harry. She decided to dress him in Gryffindor colors, because she knew her baby would be a Gryffindor.

"Lily! I can't find my glasses!" James whined.

"Have you checked on your head?" Lily said and she smirked when James was silent. He usually pushed his glasses onto his head as if they were sunglasses, even though he was as blind as a bat without them.

"Lily!" James shouted again.

"What!" Lily yelled. James was really getting on her last nerves right now.

"I love you," James whispered and Lily jumped. He was standing right behind her and his arms snaked around her waist.

"Don't do that," Lily scolded and James chuckled. He buried his head in her long, auburn hair and Lily sighed.

"What's wrong Lils," James asked.

"I don't know how long we'll have all this," Lily said.

"For as long as we live," James replied.

"Not helping," Lily said and James chuckled again.

"Seriously," Lily said.

"Okay, until you're old with grey hair and wrinkles," James suggested.

"What about you?" Lily asked.

"The great James Potter will never have grey hair OR wrinkles," James said proudly, flexing his muscles.

"Okay big boy," Lily snorted and turned around to finish dressing Harry. Suddenly, they heard a loud bang downstairs. The 2 Aurors grabbed their wands automatically and Lily protectively put her arms around Harry.

"Lily, stay here with Harry, I'll be right back," James said and started to go out the door.

"James wait!" Lily cried as she grabbed his arm. She kissed him briefly and looked him in the eyes.

"I love you," she whispered, tears forming in her eyes.

"Don't worry, it's going to be okay!" James said and used his thumbs to wipe the tears away. He kissed her forehead and walked out the door cautiously. Lily heard him walk down the stairs and open a few lights. She waited a few more minutes and then jumped when James called her.

"Lils! It's okay! Come down here!" James called. Lily raised her eyebrows and poked her head out of the door suspiciously. What if a Death Eater had used the Imperio Curse on him?

"What animal are you when you are in you Animagus form?" she replied.

"A stag!" James called back almost instantly, "C'mon! Bring Harry too!" Lily, still suspicious, picked up Harry and set him on her hip, and made her way downstairs. She held her wand out, just in case, and her eyes widened in surprise when she saw what was downstairs.

"Happy Birthday Harry!" a bunch of voices yelled. Standing in front of her was almost all of her friends: Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black and Alice and Frank Longbottom. Oh, and James was there too. There was streamers and balloons everywhere, a huge pile of presents on the dining room table, and a large banner saying "Happy Birthday!"

"Pafoo!" Harry cried and everybody froze.

"Pafoo?" James repeated.

"Harry! It's your first word! It's not exactly a word, but, still!" Lily squealed and hugged Harry.

"What's a Pafoo?" Peter asked and looked around at everyone. Remus shrugged his shoulders, Alice giggled, and Frank muttered something like "beats me." The only person who didn't do anything was Sirius, who was staring at Harry like he was a mountain of gold.

"Hey, are you okay mate?" James asked.

"It's obvious isn't it?" he said and everyone stared at him.

"Um, mate, no, it's not," James said.

"Watch," Sirius said. He hid behind Remus and then jumped out again, and Harry yelled "Pafoo!" again and held his arms out to Sirius, leaning forward.

"See!" Sirius said, pointing to Harry.

"Pafoo! He's trying to say Padfoot!" Sirius explained. He walked over to Harry and picked him up from Lily, and Harry snuggled into Sirius and said "pafoo," again. Everyone burst out laughing and James clapped Sirius on the back.

"Congrats Pafoo," James chuckled and everyone started laughing again.

**There, hope you liked it, I'll come out with the next chapter soon which will be the second-to-last. Review, favourite and follow!**


	3. Mischeif Managed

"Hey Pafoo! Come help me with the cake!" James called from the kitchen.

"Coming Thongs!" Sirius called back lovingly and a round of snickers erupted around the room.

"Not funny!" James replied and Sirius rolled his eyes.

"I love you too!" Sirius yelled and Alice broke out into a fit of giggles. Sirius started to walk to the kitchen, but Harry attached himself his leg and wouldn't let go.

"Hey, mini Thongs, let go!" Sirius said, trying to gently shake Harry off.

"Pafoo!" Harry protested.

"Hey Lils, can I give him his present? It's the only way to not make him cry when my incredibly sexy body is not in the room," Sirius asked as he flipped his hair over his shoulder.

"After cake!" Lily said and Harry and Sirius both groaned. Alice burst out into laughter and Remus had his head buried in his hands, his shoulders shaking as he silently laughed.

"C'mon squirt, let's go," Sirius said, and he picked Harry up and rested him on his hip like Lily had taught him. He walked into the kitchen, which was currently a Marauder and Mini-Marauder only zone, and sat Harry down on the kitchen table.

"Hey Pafoo, can you help me with Operation Awesome Plan to Make Harry Laugh and Get Lily Pissed?" James asked. They had never really been good at coming up with code names.

"Sure," Sirius said, and started to walk over to James when Harry grabbed his arm.

"Pafoo?" Harry asked.

"Don't worry squirt, it'll be a blast," Sirius said with a smirk, before going to help James.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Happy Birthday to you!" everyone sang.

"You live in a zoo!" Sirius sang louder.

"You smell like a monkey!" James yelled.

"And you act like one too!" they both screamed and everyone burst out laughing. James and Sirius bowed and blew kisses to the crowd and Alice doubled over in hysterical giggles. She wasn't used to the Marauders sense of humor as the others were.

"Okay, let me cut the cake," Lily announced, and started to walk over to the dining room table when she caught James and Sirius exchanging secretive glances.

"Actually, James why don't _you _do it?" Lily said sweetly and James paled ever so slightly.

"How 'bout you both cut it together?" Sirius suggested and smirked at James. James, being a Gryffindor (and Marauder) straightened himself and walked over to Lily.

"Okay, Lils, how about that?" James said, and Lily, thinking that if James would be willing to do it, than it must be safe, agreed. She may know some of the Marauders tricks, but I don't think she knew that they took sacrifices with their pranks. Anyways, Lily picked up the knife with James and placed the tip to the top of the Golden Snitch themed cake.

BANG! SCREAM!

"JAMES!" Lily roared. She was covered in cold ice cream cake (Harry was teething), icing, and confetti. All the guys were laughing, Alice was screaming, Lily had steam blowing out of her ears, and Harry was dying of laughter. All the others were also covered in the prank debris, but Lily and James got it the worst.

"MISCHEIF MANAGED!" Sirius yelled, and everyone started laughing again. Operation Awesome Plan to Make Harry Laugh and Get Lily Pissed complete.

**Sorry I haven't updated for so long, you guys must all hate me. The next chapter will be the last, and I'll try to have it up by tomorrow. Thanks for all the favorites and follows, and please review because I love the feedback. It's what keeps me going **


	4. Padfoot and Prongs Strike Again

"PRESENTS!" Sirius yelled, and mostly everyone jumped, the exception being James. Harry laughed and clapped, and Sirius took that as his ticket to levitate all of the brightly wrapped present, much to Harry's amusement.

"Okay, which one squirt?" James asked, bending down to Harry's level as Harry examined the many boxes in front of him. Harry stuck one chubby hand out and pointed to a large and long present that was resting on the top.

"Ha! Kids got a good taste," Sirius chuckled as he grabbed the long and skinny object from the top. It was covered in crimson and gold Quidditch themed wrapping paper. Gryffindor and Quidditch, so Sirius.

"Sirius, don't tell me that you actually got him a-" but Lily was cut off by a squeal from Harry. He had ripped the nice wrapping paper off the object and was now holding a miniature broom in his hands. A Harry sized broom actually. Harry seized the opportunity to crawl onto the broom and zoom around the room like a natural, only 1 foot off the ground. Lily screamed and ran after him, Alice started giggling again, James high-fived Sirius, and Remus, Frank, and Peter watched in amusement. When Lily finally caught Harry and scolded Sirius, they started opening the presents again. Harry received a mini quidditch set with foam balls, plastic beaters bats, and a slow-moving snitch from James (Sirius and James cheered; Harry was set for Quidditch), a set of books including The Tales of Beedle the Bard from Remus, and a stuffed rat, stag, dog, and wolf from Peter. Alice and Frank got Harry a cool lamp that made shadows of unicorns dance along the walls at night, and Lily gave Harry a mini model of Hogwarts.

"Harry, go give everyone thank you hugs," Lily ordered, but while Harry was at it, he grabbed James' wand out from his back pocket and somehow managed to make a rat tail erupt from Peter's bottom. Peter ran out the door as everyone burst out laughing, and Remus stood up and yawned.

"I think I'm going to go," he announced and Lily ran over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Bye Remus!" everyone called as he waved and walked out the door. Alice and Frank left soon after, so now it was just Sirius, Lily, and James left (oh, and Harry too). Harry started to get cranky, so Lily said goodnight to the boys and walked upstairs with a crying Harry in her arms.

"Ah, just Pafoo and Thongs left," Sirius said as he draped his arm around James' shoulders.

"Just like in the old days," James sighed.

"You know, just one prank on a special day like this won't do," Sirius said and winked mischievously at James.

"Okay, but nothing messy. Lily is already pissed off," James said. Sirius and he know what happens when Lily is REALLY mad.

"How 'bout a regular old Padfoot and Prongs prank," Sirius suggested, "like _Padfoot _and _Prongs_."

"Yeah, that'll entertain Harry," James said thoughtfully.

"C'mon, let's go," Sirius said, and they hopped off the couch and stepped over the pieces of ripped wrapping paper and confetti to get to the stairs. They tip-toed upstairs and crept along the hallway until they were standing outside Lily and James' bedroom door. James nodded at Sirius and they both transformed into their animagus forms.

BARK! BARK!

Lily screamed as a great black dog jumped into the small bedroom. A stag ran in behind the dog and Harry squealed and started laughing. The Potter's cat, Owen, hissed at the dog and hid under the bed. The dog barked again and jumped on the bed and the stag pinned Lily to the wall with its antlers.

"NO DOGS ON THE BED! BLOODY HELL JAMES, GET OFF ME!" Lily screamed and struggled against the stag as Sirius hopped off the bed and put its front legs on Harry's crib and licked the baby's face. Harry squealed again and Lily squirmed out from under the stag's hold. She ran over to where the dog was entertaining Harry and grabbed the dog's floppy ear. She dragged the dog across the room and grabbed the stag's ear and just stood there.

"Transform back, now," Lily said in a deadly cold voice. The 2 men transformed back to their human forms and Lily released their ears.

"Bloody hell Lily," James muttered as he rubbed his ear.

"I'm leaving. Bye Thongs, bye Mini Thongs, bye She Devil Who Must Not Be Messed With," Sirius called as he walked out of the room. Lily snarled, but James chuckled and gave Sirius a bro hug and Sirius walked out the door.

"PAFOO!" Harry cried and Sirius bolted to his side.

"What's wrong Mini Thongs?" Sirius asked softly and Harry calmed at his voice. Sirius smirked and tucked Harry in, and in a few minutes Harry's eyelids drooped closed. They all exited the room quietly and Lily softly closed the door.

"The World's Most Amazing Godfather does it again," Sirius said smugly and Lily snorted. Sirius glared at her and James chuckled again and put his arm around her waist.

"Goodnight Mr. and Mrs. Thongs," Sirius said as he started to walk down the stairs.

"Goodnight Pafoo," Lily said and they all started laughing.

**Okay, so this was the last chapter, and I want to thank everyone who favourited it, followed it, and reviewed, because you don't know how much it means to me. You are all the reason I write and please keep reading and reviewing because the positive feedback is like music to my ears. I'll come out with a new Jily or Marauder story soon, or I might try a Next Generation fanfic. Thank you all and keep updated ∞Therealmsblack∞**


End file.
